Communion Card

Here's the text you need for the congregation to be able to say their bits in the Communion part of the Holy Communion service in the Common Worship version of The Book of Common Prayer service in contemporary language. The Confession is a permited variation.

Confession

Almighty God, our heavenly Father,

We have sinned against you,

Through our own fault,

In thought, and word, and deed,

And in what we have left undone.

We are heartily sorry,

And repent of all our sins.

For your Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake,

Forgive us all that is past;

And grant that we may serve you in newness of life

To the glory of your name. Amen.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

It is right to give him thanks and praise.

… we proclaim your great and glorious name,

for ever praising you and saying:

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of power and might,

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

Liturgical Query

What does the Extended Preface for use with Eucharistic Prayers A, B and E from Easter Day until the Eve of the Ascension mean when it says:

Jesus Christ... restored in men and women the image of your glory.
He has placed them once more in paradise
and opened to them the gate of life eternal.

Common Worship, p317

Do you think Christ has placed us again in paradise?

Has Common Worship succumbed to an over-realised eschatology?

Ordinary Time

Just worrying away at the Common Worship calendar and lectionary. By my calculation, about half the year, something like 27 Sundays fall in Ordinary Time (5 Sundays from the day following Candelmas / The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (2nd Feb) to the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday and 22 Sundays from the Monday following the Day of Pentecost to Advent).

Calvin and Music

You even get to hear James Jordan sing in this lecture!

An English Prayer Book

Why didn't any of the fun bits of the BCP (the commination, churching of women, prayers for rain etc.) get the modern language treatment in the English Prayer Book or Common Worship?

Liturgical Reform Programme steps 1 & 2

I stand by my earlier comments about designing new furniture for a sinking ship but I think the top 2 liturgical reforms I'd like to see are:

(1) The full scale authorisation of a good modern language version of the BCP. Something like the English Prayer Book (Church Society / OUP) would be great. It seems to me that Common Worship accepts the principle with the modern language BCP communion service. Since all Anglicans love the BCP and claim it for themselves, who could possibly object? Come on, synod, vote now, you know you want to.

(2) The authorisation of a Lord's Supper service according to an explicitly covenantal renewal pattern using lots of Scripture, traditional texts (such as The Apostles' Creed) and some permitted variations.

By the way, why does the BCP communion service have us saying the Lord's Prayer twice?